Joining the Community

GunCAD (also 3D2A or FOSSCAD) is a broad, decentralized community of hobbyists who create and share designs for DIY firearms and related material. It moves rapidly and has been subject to frequent deplatformings over the years. This can make it difficult for a new community member to keep up with developments.

This guide will list useful resources for participating in 3D2A discussions and keeping up with development. Note that these places are for discussion; to find files, see Finding Tested Gun Designs.

Newsletters

Guncad Digest

The Guncad Digest (https://guncad.substack.com) is a well-curated biweekly Substack newsletter that gathers information on new releases, betas, and developments. It also keeps track of the larger landscape, where 2A or printing-specific developments may be relevant.

You can subscribe to the Guncad Digest to ensure new issues are delivered to a Substack or email inbox.

Chat Rooms

GunCAD Index Matrix Space

The GunCAD Index maintains a Matrix space (https://matrix.to/#/#guncad-index:matrix.org) for discussion of the site and any of its other projects. Development and construction can be discussed there, but they aren't its primary focus.

FOSSCAD Matrix Space

FOSSCAD has a Matrix presence (https://matrix.to/#/#fosscad:matrix.org) for discussion of all things DIY firearms, from development to construction to general discussion and even design help.

They are currently migrating from their Discord (https://discord.gg/FAncmATZkp) to this platform in anticipation of platform-level censorship and Discord's imminent ID verification policies.

Black Lotus Coalition Matrix Space

Black Lotus Coalition is a release group that does practically all of their design work and beta testing over Matrix (https://matrix.to/#/#blacklotuscoalitionteam:matrix.org). If you're interested in learning how to develop a DIY firearm or want to contribute to testing someone else's design, you should definitely drop by.

Dedicated Discussion Forums

GunCAD Forums

The GunCAD Forums (https://forum.guncadindex.com) is a federated forum for discussing all subjects related to DIY firearms. Leveraging the Lemmy software, its federated nature make it highly resistant to censorship and deplatforming, making it a stable location for discussing and asking questions related to DIY firearms.

FOSSCAD.io

FOSSCAD.io (https://fosscad.io) is another federated Lemmy instance. Due to their federated nature, all Lemmy instances can discuss the same posts as though they were all the same website. It is also a stable location for discussing DIY firearms.

Social Media Groups

/r/3D2A

One of the few subreddits for DIY firearms still standing, /r/3D2A allows users to discuss and show off builds and new releases with some restrictions.

Note: Reddit has very strict rules about what can and cannot be discussed, especially regarding DIY firearms. These rules are consistently enforced on /r/3d2a -- users are encouraged to read and follow them. Limitations include:

• Users cannot discuss, link to, or vaguely allude to file-hosting websites
• Users cannot solicit sales of any sort, including parts kit vendors

Rule breakage is swiftly punished. Users are encouraged to discuss those topics on a dedicated forum.

The Real 2A Printers! Facebook Group

"The Real 2A Printers!" (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1368258840310204/) is the largest Facebook community dedicated to 3D2A. It's a good place to view updates and ask questions related to 3D2A.

Note: Just like Reddit, there are very strict rules on Facebook related to discussing 3D2A. Rule breakage is swiftly punished.

3D2A Facebook Group

"3D2A" (https://www.facebook.com/groups/344556773663993/) is the second largest 3D2A-related Facebook community.

Note: Just like Reddit, there are very strict rules on Facebook related to discussing 3D2A. Rule breakage is swiftly punished.